Carleton University Department of Political Science Summer 2016 PSCI 2002-A CANADIAN POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT Tuesday/Thursday 08:35-11:25 Please confirm location on Carleton Central Professor: Dr. Rand Dyck Office: B643 Loeb Office Hours: Tuesday/Thursday 11:15-12:00 p.m. or by appointment E-mail: Rand.Dyck@carleton.ca Course Description: This course is designed to achieve an understanding of the main social, political, and economic cleavages, conflicts, and identities that provide the context of Canadian political life. These principally include the forces of regionalism, ethnicity, class, and gender. The course also examines the Canadian political culture, political socialization, the mass media and public opinion polls, and advocacy groups, social movements, and lobbying. It is a common practice to group all these subjects together as the informal, non-institutional side of Canadian Politics, while the more formal, institutional side of the subject is examined in the companion course, PSCI 2003 Canadian Political Institutions. Required Text available at CU Bookstore: This hot-off-the-press text will not be available before the course begins. Do not worry it will be there soon. Do not buy an earlier edition. Christopher Cochrane, Kelly Blidook, and Rand Dyck, Canadian Politics: Critical Approaches, 8th ed. Toronto: Nelson Education, 2016. Supplementary Reading: You should enhance your perspective on each subject by reading at least one of the other articles listed for each subject. They are primarily chosen from the following books of readings which have been put on reserve in the Carleton Library. James Bickerton and A.-G. Gagnon, eds. Canadian Politics, 6 th ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014. Peter Russell, et al., eds. Essential Readings in Canadian Government and Politics, 2 nd ed. Toronto: Emond Montgomery, 2016. Michael Whittington and Glen Williams, eds. Canadian Politics in the 21st Century, 7 th ed. Toronto: Nelson, 2008.
Method of Evaluation Minor Essay 10% May 12 Midterm Exam 25% May 24 Major Essay 20% June 7 Final Exam 35% (June 17-23) Attendance and participation 10% The minor essay should be 7 pages long and the major paper should be 10 pages long. All assignments are to be submitted in class or the drop-box that day. Late submissions are subject to a penalty of 5 marks per day. More details will be contained when the lists of essay topics are distributed. Students are expected to attend every class. One mark out of the 10 allotted for Attendance and Participation is deducted for each absence. Class Schedule and Readings 1. May 3 Introduction and Institutional Foundations Canadian Politics, chs. 1 and 2 LaSelva, Understanding Canada s Origins: Federalism, Multiculturalism, and the Will to Live Together, in Bickerton/Gagnon 2. May 5: Regionalism Canadian Politics, ch. 3 Manning, The West Wants In, in Russell 3. May 10: Aboriginal Peoples Canadian Politics, ch. 4 The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (excerpt) in Russell Russell, Section 4.2 Aboriginal Peoples Papillon, The Rise (and Fall?) of Aboriginal Self-Government, in Bickerton/Gagnon 4. May 12: French Canada and Quebec Canadian Politics, ch. 5 McRoberts, Quebec: Province, Nation or Distinct Society? in Whittington and Williams.
5. May 17: Ethnocultural Minorities Canadian Politics, ch. 6 Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Statement on Multiculturalism, in Russell. Abu-Laban, Diversity in Canadian Politics, in Bickerton/Gagnon. Bouchard-Taylor Report on Accommodation Practices in Quebec (excerpt) in Russell. 6. May 19: Gender Canadian Politics, ch. 7 Royal Commission on the Status of Women (excerpt), in Russell. Thomas and Young, Women (Not) in Politics: Women s Electoral Participation, in Bickerton/Gagnon. Miriam Smith, Identity and Opportunity: The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Movement in Russell. 7. May 24: Mid-term Exam 8. May 26: Class Canadian Politics, ch. 8 Armine Yalnizyan, Income Inequality in Canada: What Can Be Done? in Russell. Panitch, Elites, Classes, and Power in Canada, Russell. http://rabble.ca/columnists/2013/05/harpers-discreet-class-war-against-working-people 9. May 31: Other Cleavages and Identities: Urban/Rural Location, Religion, and Age Canadian Politics, ch. 9 Caroline Andrew, The Cities in Russell 10. June 2: The Canadian Political Culture Canadian Politics, ch. 11 Bell, Political Culture in Canada, in Whittington/Williams 11. June 7: Political Socialization, the Mass Media, and Public Opinion Polls Canadian Politics, ch. 12 Fletcher and Everett, The Mass Media and Canadian Politics in an Era of Globalization, in
Whittington/Williams https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/monitor/democratic-media-reform-canada http://policyoptions.irpp.org/2016/02/21/fourth-estate-the-fifth-business-of-democracy/ 12. June 9: Advocacy Groups, Social Movements, and Lobbying Canadian Politics, ch. 16 Montpetit, Are Interest Groups Useful or Harmful? Take Two, in Bickerton/Gagnon Orsini, Of Pots and Pans and Radical Handmaids: Social movements and Civil Society, in Bickerton/Gagnon http://democracywatch.ca/20120517-relsmay1712/ Democracy Watch analysis of lobbying 13. June 14: Review class The Final Examination will scheduled by the Registrar and written during the formal examination period (June 17-23). Academic Accommodations The Paul Menton Centre for Students with Disabilities (PMC) provides services to students with Learning Disabilities (LD), psychiatric/mental health disabilities, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), chronic medical conditions, and impairments in mobility, hearing, and vision. If you have a disability requiring academic accommodations in this course, please contact PMC at 613-520-6608 or pmc@carleton.ca for a formal evaluation. If you are already registered with the PMC, contact your PMC coordinator to send me your Letter of Accommodation at the beginning of the term, and no later than two weeks before the first in-class scheduled test or exam requiring accommodation (if applicable). After requesting accommodation from PMC, meet with me to ensure accommodation arrangements are made. Please consult the PMC website for the deadline to request accommodations for the formally-scheduled exam (if applicable). For Religious Observance: Students requesting accommodation for religious observances should apply in writing to their instructor for alternate dates and/or means of satisfying academic requirements. Such requests should be made during the first two weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is known to exist, but no later than two weeks before the compulsory academic event. Accommodation is to be worked out directly and on an individual basis between the student and the instructor(s) involved. Instructors will make accommodations in a way that avoids academic disadvantage to the student. Instructors and students may contact an Equity Services Advisor for assistance (www.carleton.ca/equity). For Pregnancy: Pregnant students requiring academic accommodations are encouraged to contact an Equity Advisor in Equity Services to complete a letter of accommodation. Then,
make an appointment to discuss your needs with the instructor at least two weeks prior to the first academic event in which it is anticipated the accommodation will be required. Plagiarism: The University Senate defines plagiarism as presenting, whether intentional or not, the ideas, expression of ideas or work of others as one s own. This can include: reproducing or paraphrasing portions of someone else s published or unpublished material, regardless of the source, and presenting these as one s own without proper citation or reference to the original source; submitting a take-home examination, essay, laboratory report or other assignment written, in whole or in part, by someone else; using ideas or direct, verbatim quotations, or paraphrased material, concepts, or ideas without appropriate acknowledgment in any academic assignment; using another s data or research findings; failing to acknowledge sources through the use of proper citations when using another s works and/or failing to use quotation marks; handing in "substantially the same piece of work for academic credit more than once without prior written permission of the course instructor in which the submission occurs. Plagiarism is a serious offence which cannot be resolved directly with the course s instructor. The Associate Deans of the Faculty conduct a rigorous investigation, including an interview with the student, when an instructor suspects a piece of work has been plagiarized. Penalties are not trivial. They may include a mark of zero for the plagiarized work or a final grade of "F" for the course. Student or professor materials created for this course (including presentations and posted notes, labs, case studies, assignments and exams) remain the intellectual property of the author(s). They are intended for personal use and may not be reproduced or redistributed without prior written consent of the author(s). Submission and Return of Term Work: Papers must be submitted directly to the instructor according to the instructions in the course outline and will not be date-stamped in the departmental office. Late assignments may be submitted to the drop box in the corridor outside B640 Loeb. Assignments will be retrieved every business day at 4 p.m., stamped with that day's date, and then distributed to the instructor. For essays not returned in class please attach a stamped, self-addressed envelope if you wish to have your assignment returned by mail. Final exams are intended solely for the purpose of evaluation and will not be returned. Grading: Standing in a course is determined by the course instructor, subject to the approval of the faculty Dean. Final standing in courses will be shown by alphabetical grades. The system of grades used, with corresponding grade points is:
Percentage Letter grade 12-point scale Percentage Letter grade 12-point scale 90-100 A+ 12 67-69 C+ 6 85-89 A 11 63-66 C 5 80-84 A- 10 60-62 C- 4 77-79 B+ 9 57-59 D+ 3 73-76 B 8 53-56 D 2 70-72 B- 7 50-52 D- 1 Approval of final grades: Standing in a course is determined by the course instructor subject to the approval of the Faculty Dean. This means that grades submitted by an instructor may be subject to revision. No grades are final until they have been approved by the Dean. Carleton E-mail Accounts: All email communication to students from the Department of Political Science will be via official Carleton university e-mail accounts and/or culearn. As important course and University information is distributed this way, it is the student s responsibility to monitor their Carleton and culearn accounts. Carleton Political Science Society: The Carleton Political Science Society (CPSS) has made its mission to provide a social environment for politically inclined students and faculty. Holding social events, debates, and panel discussions, CPSS aims to involve all political science students at Carleton University. Our mandate is to arrange social and academic activities in order to instill a sense of belonging within the Department and the larger University community. Members can benefit through numerous opportunities which will complement both academic and social life at Carleton University. To find out more, visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/politicalsciencesociety/ or come to our office in Loeb D688. Official Course Outline: The course outline posted to the Political Science website is the official course outline.